How often do you consider the impact you are making?
There are three energies that your business can give you; money, creativity and impact.
Money allows you to be profitable and have the time that you want to live your life. Creativity allows you to work in flow and find joy from the work that you do. Impact allows you to be focused on your Big Vision, leadership and your desire to make a difference.
And it’s this energy of impact that I wanted to hone in on today.
I know that some of you reading this may pull back from the thought of being a leader, especially if you are feeling burnt out by your business or confused about the direction you are going in.
But ensuring your business is set up to allow you to step into leadership is important, no matter how small or big you want your business to grow.
If you want to make a difference to the people you serve, the values you stand for or have a strong vision for change, it’s important to pay close attention to what’s needed to fulfil your sense of purpose.
Impact serves you at a deeper soul level which in turn allows you to weather the money storms and find the motivation and desire to find a way forward when business doesn’t go according to plan. If you know you have clients who rely on you, trust you and see you as a partner in their lives, you will naturally do whatever it takes to make your business a success.
Many people think that to make a difference, you have to affect people or the planet on a global scale. The world you want to make a difference in could indeed be the global planet. But your world could also be simply your family, your local community or even the industry that you work within.
Because I know you are probably not in business ‘just for the money’, making a difference is a key part of what it is that you do, isn’t it?
Interestingly though, this is the one area of many people’s business that I see stifled the most. It seems that the change people want to make often gets buried under marketing plans and decisions about what to charge and what products to create because the fear of showing up can pull you back.
I have had my fair share of fears and doubts.
They’ve shown up in bucket loads over the years, often showing up as a gentle tight grip on the inside of my throat; almost like a child’s hand trying to silence me. I used to let this feeling in my throat silence me and pull me back, like a bungee cord. I’d come up with an idea that initially excited me; I let my mind play with it for a short while but then the bungee cord would snap me back. Each time I’d either dilute the idea to end up with a smaller, simpler version of it or would decide not to do it at all.
This is why impact is such an important energy to harness in your business. Yes, making more money is one aspect of growth, but having personally experienced burnout from ‘chasing the money’ and trying to grow by following 6-figure formulas and plug-and-play systems, I know now that I am not motivated to grow for growth’s sake. I value my health and vitality too much for that now.
Your influence on this world is far bigger than you may think possible right now and it doesn’t matter whether you are an accountant, physiotherapist, coach or trainer, the work that you do with your clients can influence and change their lives for the better. Although showing up as a leader may not be high on your list of priorities, deciding how you want to make an impact on the people you serve will help you open your business options.
Please don’t underestimate the ripples you can create by the smallest actions that you take.
One of the ways that I’ve decided to create a ripple and ensure impact energy is fuelling me and my team is to become a partner in the global Buy1Give1 initiative. B1G1 makes it incredibly easy for business owners like me and you to be able to give in meaningful and impactful ways.
One example of how we are using this in my business is being able to give two days of business mentoring to help a woman in Zambia grow her business, and lift her family from the cycle of poverty, every time someone books a True Profit Call with us.
Providing women across the world with access to education, decent work and representation in economic decision-making processes fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large. This particular business mentoring project is managed by MicroLoan Foundation Australia and the on-going training they provide is essential in imparting relevant skills such as financial literacy to ensure that their businesses are sustainable and profitable in the long run, allowing them to contribute to the livelihood of their families.
You can read more about the impact that we’ve started creating with B1G1 here.
These are the ripples that you and I are able to make together.
If you are interested or know of someone else who would benefit from having a call with us to discuss their business growth plans and thus allow us to give another two days of business mentoring to these women in Zambia, please either forward this article on to them and send them this link => www.KarenSkidmore.com/getstarted.
Or ask them to email me directly at Karen@KarenSkidmore.com.
In the meanwhile, I invite you to take a moment and ponder on the question I started this article with …
How often do you consider the impact you are making?
Please don’t underestimate the ripples you can create by the smallest actions that you take, so I give you this space to decide where you could throw your stone in right now.
